Cool, Unique, and Unusual Things to do in Tokyo

Are you visiting Tokyo? If so, you would want to do things you can’t do back at home, don’t you? You might not know the cool and unusual things to do in Tokyo.

Don’t worry! By the time you finish reading this article, you will know the cool and unusual things you can and should do in Tokyo!

I’m going to share with you 8 cool and unusual things to do while in Tokyo, where to do them, and more recommendations through this article. So, keep reading!

Tokyo is the perfect place to go all out without anyone looking at you like crazy. Can you imagine wearing a cosplay and walk around in your country? People will be looking at you like you’re crazy. But, in Tokyo, you are just another cool passerby hanging out.

If you are visiting Tokyo, other than visiting the popular destinations, you should do some cool and unusual things you can’t find back home. Tokyo is the perfect place to do the things you’ve always wanted to do but can’t. Like maybe go Mario karting around the city? Eat with an owl (it’s not that weird, I promise) and many other things! Wondering what else you can do in Tokyo?

8 cool and unusual things to do in Tokyo

1. Watch sumo tournament or practice

Sumo is a Japanese style of heavyweight wrestling, where two men wearing only a mawashi, a loincloth in Japanese, face each other in a circular ring (dohyo), pushing, grappling and trying to throw each other. Only 3 of the 6 of the sumo tournaments are held in Tokyo, with specific dates making it quite difficult to watch them.

Don’t worry, you can still watch sumo practice (Keiko). It is truly a unique experience to watch sumo wrestle up close. You can watch them in the morning (almost every day, but check ahead!) at stables all around Tokyo.

For the complete sumo watching guide, click here to see dates for tournaments, ticket prices, how to watch sumo practice, and more.

2. Eat at Vampire Cafe

Dine at the vampire-themed cafe in a spooky candlelit space with red velvet curtains and spooky decor.The menus depict the theme of the cafe as well with coffins, cross-shaped, and the use of red sauce resembling blood.

3. Go real-life Mario karting around the city streets

Play real-life Mario Kart through the streets in Tokyo! You can wear Mario Kart characters costume and go Mario karting around the city streets without the cops stopping you or people judging you. All you need is a valid driving license (Japanese, international, SOFA, etc). You truly can’t experience this anywhere else.

Don't know how you can experience it? Got you covered. My recommendation is this TOKYO Street Go Karting experience. You will get to see top landmarks such as Tokyo Skytree, Asakusa, Ginza and many more places from a different point of view through this go-karting experience. Through the tour, you will not only have an experience go-karting around Tokyo streets with a Mario Kart costume, you will also have a private guide to enhance your experience.

4. Eat at Christon Cafe

You can eat in the catholicism-themed cafe under the vaulted ceilings, candlelit chandeliers, and polished wooden altars giving a feel of eating in a cathedral. The place is filled with statues of Christ weeping blood and haloed Virgins. The menu is uniquely cross and coffin-shaped.

5. Robot Restaurant

This is a popular restaurant filled with raucous pop-culture show with robotic monsters, dancers & lasers, where you focus more on the show rather than the eating part. This is more of an experience of watching shows rather than eating. You have to pay an entrance fee to watch the show with specific schedules. You can check the schedule by clicking here.

You can also click here to purchase tickets and shuttle bus to deliver you to the restaurant.

6. Strike a pose at Purikura no Mecca

Purikura is basically a photo booth, but it's not an ordinary photo booth. Here, take pictures and you can control/edit them on the spot where you can apply fake eyelashes, change eye and hair color, and make your legs look longer and slimmer, enlarge your eyes, add cute decorations and more. These features are all optional and you can make yourself look way better (or more strange, if you want). It's a great way to capture memories while you are in Japan!

7. Alcatraz ER

Experience eating inside the filthy cells in a Japan's corrupt-mental-institution themed restaurant. Other than the horror theme of the food and the gruesome decor, the staff enacts various regular “shows” where a diner will be pulled from their cell by horrific clowns and nurses to be “experimented on” with giant syringes and fake penises.

8. Visit the Meguro Parasitological Museum

The only establishment dedicating itself entirely to parasites, this is a unique thing to experience while you are in Tokyo. Here you can see 45,000 displays of parasite specimens. If you have a weak stomach, however, I definitely don’t recommend this.

Enhance your Tokyo trip with a private guide

There are still many more cool, unique, and unusual things you can do in Tokyo. However, some are hidden to foreign tourists and only locals would know. Find out more cool and unusual things to do by hiring a private guide in Tokyo. They know off-the-beaten-path attractions and they can take you there to experience them and make your trip more even more interesting. There are so many more advantages you can get by hiring a private guide.

Where to hire tour guides?

There are many websites where you can hire tour guides, but you never know what you are getting into, whether the guides are quality guides or not. Or whether the website is trustworthy or not.

That’s why I’m recommending you TripleLights. The website offers many qualified tour guides options in Tokyo and other areas of Japan from which you can choose according to your needs and preferences.

Recommended tour guides in Tokyo

You don’t have to look very hard to find a great private guide for you. Here is a list of great tour guides in Tokyo. If you are traveling to Kyoto, click here for guides in Kyoto, and for other areas of Japan, you may want to click here.

Plan your trip to Tokyo

Recent Tour Reviews in Tokyo

“ The best way to get around Tokyo ”

Mitsuru was very careful when planning our visit, and made sure we got exactly the experience we wanted from Tokyo, with the right balance of tourist hotspots and local finds. His patience when explaining local habits and teaching us how to ride the tube were the reason we were able to get around the rest of the country, and his impecable guidance made it able for us to cover all of Tokyo in the l... read more

“ Delightlful .... ”

Aki was very easy to work with and accomodating to our group of 6.
As requested, he put together a 3 day itinerary for us based upon our interests and desired activity level.
He is quite knowledgeable about "all things Tokyo" as well as the Japanese culture and history.
He is a master of the Tokyo transit system and without him we would have had a difficult time navigating around.
We asked Aki... read more

“ KOJI--OUR WONDERFUL GUIDE! ”

In the midst of the ongoing COVID drama sweeping the world, my partner and I decided to continue on with our trip to Japan. We were a bit nervous and wary but ended up having an incredible, once in a lifetime trip and a large part of this was our time with Koji. Koji has youth and energy, knowledge about Japanese culture, food and life, and was a wonderful host during our stay in Tokyo. We felt... read more

“ March 7 2020 Tokyo ”

Due to lack of time I decided to hire a Tokyo local guide to make use of our time,most especially for 7 hours.
I did not regret to choose Noriko ,she was professional ,punctual ,very knowledgeable and she can feel the feelings of what we really wanted to see.
We were so happy because we saw the places we wanted in 7 hours time.
We recommend Noriko to all travellers who wanted to see in a short ... read more

“ First day in Tokyo ”

Nobu was wonderful. He accepted our last minute booking and met us at our hotel at 10am. A lot of things where closed, but Nobu had a great iteneriary for us. He spoke great english and did a great job of explaining the local culture and history. read more

“ I had a wonderful time with Juliana. ”

OMG, I had a fabulous day with Juliana. She was very informative and very professional while showing me around Tokyo. I've requested to Juliana to take me to the snoopy museum. Despite being closed because of the virus, she took me there anyway to visit the Peanut cafe and Snoopy town. That's when i learned she too was a Snoopy fan. Her command of the English language is very fluent. I have learn... read more

“ 8 hour tour worth every penny! ”

Maru was quick to respond to my request and assembled a nice customized itinerary for our day in Tokyo together. The shrine we visited was incredible! She has good local knowledge and is very personable and friendly. Maru's English is excellent and she was able to help me put together a few key phrases that I used during the rest of my stay in Japan. I would highly recommend her! read more

“ One day tour ”

We only had one day to tour in Tokyo and Mitsuru did a great job getting us to the type of sites we wanted to see. He provided us with a list of top sites and and found our interests and set a custom tour to show us the most he could . Even with the closure of sites due to the Corona virus, with his knowledge of the city he was easily able to make suggestions at the last second for other sites. Mi... read more